


Promise you’ll come back to me

by dinogirlparis



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Battle of Hogwarts, Bisexual Dean Thomas, Canon Universe, First Kiss, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Friends to Lovers, Gay Seamus Finnigan, Hogwarts, Hogwarts Era, Jealousy, Love Confessions, M/M, Mutual Pining, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-28
Updated: 2021-02-01
Packaged: 2021-03-08 20:34:30
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 12,158
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27252751
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dinogirlparis/pseuds/dinogirlparis
Summary: Dean and Seamus throughout their years at Hogwarts.
Relationships: Dean Thomas/Ginny Weasley, Seamus Finnigan/Dean Thomas
Comments: 3
Kudos: 33





	1. The Hogwarts Express and New Found Friendship

**Author's Note:**

> A/N This fic is also on Wattpad under my account with the same name dinogirlparis where I have several other works. Because I’m moving this fic over from Wattpad there may be more chapters posted on Wattpad than here. I would love to know what you think so feel free to leave comments. I do not own Harry Potter or any of its characters

Dean arrived early to platform nine and three quarters. He was scared that he would miss the train, that maybe this whole wizarding thing would turn out to be some kind of elaborate prank. That maybe he'd gone crazy and was sitting at a mental ward because there was no way he could be standing at a magical non existent train station he had to run through a wall to get to. Dean pushed these thoughts aside choosing instead to climb onto the Hogwarts express. He had found the first empty compartment he could, too afraid of disturbing someone that may not want him there. 

Dean stared out the window tapping his fingers relentlessly against his thigh. He was excited to go to this new school to study magic. He wanted to learn more about the wizarding world that was still foreign to him in many ways. To be honest, there was still a part of Dean that was convinced this wasn't real, that he was dreaming or that he'd somehow been transferred into one of the fairytale stories his mom used to read to him at night. 

As excited as Dean was, he still couldn't stop the nervous thoughts running rampant through his head. Dean was scared of starting a new school, scared that he wouldn't make any friends that we would spend the whole year alone like he had just last year. Scared that he didn't know anything about the wizarding world and would conscecensly fall behind in his classes, but above all he was scared of leaving his family. He'd never left them for longer than a couple days. It was weird to say goodbye, it had only been twenty minutes yet, Dean was already missing his mom, his step dad and above all his two younger siblings. 

The door to the compartment slid open the loud sound startled Dean causing him to jump and stare at the boy in front of him with wide eyes. 

"Sorry didn't mean to startle ye there" The boy at the door said in a thick Irish accents. He was a little smaller and skinnier than most boys his age. His fair was messy and falling into his face. He looked like he rushed out of the house his shirt on backwards, only one of his shoes was tied and there was a few pieces of clothing pushing out of the side of his suitcase. "It's just I can't find any other open compartments and was wondering if I could join you?"

Dean nodded "of course" 

The boy plopped onto the seat across from Dean sticking his right arm in front of him. "I'm Seamus by the way, Seamus Finnigan" 

Dean shook the boys hand "Dean, Dean Thomas"

"Nice to meet ya Dean Thomas, are you a first year?" Dean nodded "So am I, where do recon you'll be sorted"

"What?" Dean asks not understanding the boy's question.

"Oh you must be a muggle born", Dean recognised the word having heard it before at Diagon alley, "They sort everyone into different houses named after the Hogwarts founders, Gryffindor's for the brave, Ravenclaw's for the smart people , Hufflepuff's for the nice people and there's Slytherin its where all the bad people go that's what me mam says." Dean was thankful that someone had taken the time to explain something in the wizarding world to him. He was used to people brushing him off acting like it was his fault that he didn't know how things in this world worked, a world he'd only learned existed a couple weeks ago. "I want to end up in Gryffindor, where do you think you'll end up?"

"I don't know"Dean admitted quietly staring at the floor. People had told him he was smart before but he didn't think he was himself, he always tried to be friendly to people but he never really had many friends, he wasn't sure he was brave he was still scared of stupid things, like thunderstorms, that he thought eleven year olds should have out grown and he certainly didn't think he was evil he tried to do things that he thought were right.

"Well that's okay that's what the sorting hats for" Dean scrunched his eyebrows wondering how a hat would determine his future house. 

Seamus responded seemingly reading his thoughts "you probably don't know what that is either, It's this giant old hat that you wear that can tell what place is best for you. It hasn't put a single witch or wizard in the wrong house at least that's what I've been told." 

Dean nodded to show he was following although it still didn't really make sense to him like most things in his life seemed to lately.

Dean sat quietly listening to the boy across from him, tell story after story. Dean was a quite person he generally didn't like to talk much. Seamus didn't seem to care that he was quite most the journey but he still made sure that Dean was listening that he wasn't bothering him. 

"Did you hear Harry Potter suppose to be staring Hogwarts this year." Seamus asked the boy across from him. He was excited he'd been told stories about Harry, this magnificent invincible saviour and hero, his whole childhood. 

"Who?" 

Seamus was surprised that Dean didn't know who Harry Potter was. How could someone not knew who Harry freaking Potter is. However Seamus supposed if he lived in the muggle world how could he know who he was? 

"Well..." Seamus tapered off not knowing where to start this story, how much he had to explain. 

"Well what?" Dean leaned forward in his seat.

"Well there was once a dark evil wizard called he who must not be named..."

"He who must not be named, how do you get a name like that? Why can't we name him? What is his real name?"  
Dean spoke the first real chain of words all day. 

"Would you shut up and let me finish my story?" Dean closed his mouth but stayed on the edge of seat leaning forward. 

"So he who must not be named was this evil wizard, he had these evil followers called death eaters and they started a war, a wizarding war. He who must not be named killed a lot of people with the killing curse. No one in the history of the wizarding world has ever survived the curse until Harry Potter. When Harry Potter was just a wee baby he survived the killing curse and even killed the dark." 

Dean was amazed by this story even if he didn't understand all the logistics, he didn't understand how someone could defeat such a powerful wizard despite the boy being only a literal baby.

The rest of the journey, carried on in much the same way. Seamus would tell story, after story about the wizarding world, teaching Dean what he knew of it. Dean steadily grew louder as he becaume increasingly comfortable with the boy across of him.


	2. A boat ride with flying fish

The train came to a screeching halt startling Dean. He was surprised to see that it was already dark out, he must have lost track of time talking to Seamus he realised.

A voice startled him, breaking his train of thoughts. "Hey aren't you going to get off the train?" 

"Oh... yeah" Dean said while standing up and making his way to the sliding door where Seamus already was, how long had he zoned out. He shook his head trying to clear away his thoughts. 

"Mate are you okay?"

"Yeah just lost in thought I guess" Dean replied. 

"Okay we'll we better get going if we don't want to be late" Seamus said stepping out into the hallway with Dean following close behind.

Dean was pushed roughly out of the train into a rapidly growing crowd of students. 

"Firs'-years follow me!" An incredibly tall and bulky man with a bushy black beard that fell to his waist screamed over the loud chatter of the crowd. Dean pushes his way through the crowd following the man. "Four to a boat" He extended his arm holding the lantern casting the row of small boats on the lakes shore in an unnatural golden glow. 

Dean looked around for the small Irish boy he just met hoping to end up in the same boat, even though he barely knew the boy he enjoyed his company. He was easy to talk to, and he never hesitated to explain how things worked in the wizarding world, a curtesy most wizards Dean had met seemed to lack. Much to his dismay, Dean couldn't find the boy in the gathering crowd of first year students. Realising he probably wouldn't see Seamus again tonight, maybe not ever again, he stepped into one of the empty boats. 

Finally able to see the unobscured view of Hogwarts, Dean stared ahead mouth hanging open in awe. The sight was gorgeous unlike anything he'd ever seen before. It wasn't just a school, it was a proper castle like the ones from fairytales his mom used to read to him when his little, the ones that still decorated a surprising portion of his bookshelf back home. The full moon and thousands of glittering stars in the seemingly never ending black sky highlighted the intriguing silhouette of Hogwarts with its many rising spiers of old worn stone. Living in central London, Dean had never been able to see this many stars, he was surprised to see how many stars could actually fit into the tiny section of cosmic universe he was currently seeing. Dean was certain he could feel some form of magic seeping out of the castle and into the chilly night air. Uncertain where to look Dean found his eyes jumping from detail to detail, every one he noticed seemed just as impressive as the last wether it was the dark stones that made up the walls or the flowering vines wrapped around the towers. His hands itched for his sketchbook or paints, some way to capture the beauty, the mystery and the magic flowing from the school before him. 

"Fancy seeing you here" A familiar voice spoke behind Dean. 

"Hey" Dean turned a smile appearing on his face.

Seamus slid into the spot next to him. "Beautiful ain't it?"

"It really is" Dean says turning his eyes back towards the castle. Both boys sat in silence taking in the view of the school towering over them. They both were excited about the incredible opportunities a magical school had to offer, of the all the things they could learn, of the adventures that awaited them. However, they both were scared that no one would want to be their friend, that they could end up missing out on everything happening around them. Seamus turned to look at the boy sat beside him at least I know someone in my year he thought. 

"Do you mind if we join you there's no other boats left?" A girl hesitantly asks behind them.

"Course" Seamus replies. 

Two girls one a pale blonde the other a fiery red head climbed into the boat taking the seats in front of Dean and Seamus.

The boat lurches forward and Dean suckes in a breath of the refreshing clear night air feeling his heart racing, realising that there was no going back from here.

Seamus leans over Dean pointing to a fish jumping out of the water near them. Dean watched as the surprising large glittering gold fish arced through the sky landing with a soft plop back into the black waters of the lake. This time Dean nudged Seamus pointing to another jumping fish surprisingly close to their boat, this one sparkling silver. Instead of landing straight back in the water like the one before it flew right into the face of one of the girls across from them slapping her across the cheek with its tail before falling into the boat. The girl abruptly began shrieking rubbing at her face, frantically kicking her legs around almost stepping on the fish and sending the boat rocking causing water to slosh over the sides. The girl besides her stared wide eyed torn between trying to calm her friend down and saving the fish from being stomped to death. After several seconds, the friend gently scooped up the fish that was the length of both her hands and tossed it over the side of the boat back into the lake. She sat back down wrapping her arms around her friend. 

All it took was one look between Dean and Seamus for them to promptly burst out laughing. 

"Stop laughing, It wasn't funny!" The fish slapped girl shouted. 

It took several seconds and two failed attempts from them both laughing just from glancing at each other before they managed to calm down. 

"You're right, we shouldn't have laughed I'm sorry" Dean surprisingly didn't laugh once during the apology. 

"You right you shouldn't have. You have no idea how traumatising that whole experience was I could have died" 

"You could have died from a fish slapping you in the face, how?" Seamus asked trying to suppress his giggles and only nearly succeeding.

"I don't know", the girl sputtered "But I could have some how, you don't know" 

At this Dean began laughing once again causing the boy sat beside him to start laughing again too. 

The girls friend glared at the two laughing boys before her. "Okay, Now you're just being rude and insensitive" when her statement was meet with no response, she practically screeched at the boys before her. "It's not funny, she told you to stop laughing."

However her attempts to get them to stop, only caused them to laugh harder. 

"Did you see the look on her face?" Seamus barely managed to ask between fits of giggles. 

"She looked absolutely horrified" Dean said clutching his stomach and using the other to rest on Seamus's shoulder to stop him from falling over.


	3. The Sorting

When Dean Thomas started at the Great Hall's ceiling in wonder for the first time, feeling small and terrified and excited a boy next to him said "well that's quite a lot of stars, isn't it?" Dean let out a startled laugh, and Seamus Finnigan laughed back. Dean felt calmer next the Irish boy, at least he knew someone in his year, he was used to not having many friends too afraid that people wouldn't like him, that they wouldn't want him around. 

A middle aged witch in a tall pointy hat at the front of the hall rolled out a list of students names and began calling people forward to be sorted. Dean watched with fascination as an old ratty hat was placed on one the first student, Hannah Abbott and after a couple seconds screamed "Hufflepuff". 

"Seamus Finnigan" The sandy haired boy next to him slowly made his way forward. Seamus's foot caught in his robes causing him to stumble forward. After he regained his footing he brushed of his robes and power walked to the stool where the sorting hat stood. The hat was placed on his head falling most the way over his eyes, obscuring his view. "Plenty of courage I see," the hat spoke into his head and he almost feel of his stool, "also a lot of loyalty but I gotta say Gryffindor" Seamus hopped down from the stool walking over to the table with the red and gold banners.

"Harry Potter" Seamus turned from his spot at the Gryffindor table wanting to know what this boy he'd been told about his whole childhood, who killed the dark lord saving the wizarding world, looked like. He was surprised by how ordinary Harry looked, he wasn't sure what he was excepting but he looked the same as the rest of the kids in the hall, except for maybe his extremely messy black hair and his abnormal large round glasses. Seamus watched with anticipation for several minutes in the tense silence the hall had settled into, untill the hat finally screamed "Gryffindor". Seamus was excited at the prospect of getting to met the boy who had managed to kill he who must not be named when he was just a baby. He couldn't wait to send a letter to his mom telling her he was in the same house as the wizarding worlds saviour.

"Dean Thomas" Dean hesitantly stepped forward. He was anxious not knowing where he would go all the houses sounded good to him expect Slytherin, everyone made it sound horrible. He sat on the chair and let the witch place the hat on his head. The sorting hat spoke loud and clear in Dean's mind startling him, but Dean who was new to the wizarding world had grown used to finding things he didn't understand, recovered quickly. "Ah interesting, you are loyal and kind, have an interesting mind but also quite a blaze of bravery when it's required, I could put you in a lot places, but I've got to say Gryffindor." The last word was not just in Dean's head but wrung out through the crowd. Dean hopped down from the stool and made his way over to the Gryffindor table seating himself next to Seamus. He was glad to end up in the same house as the boy he seemed to keep running into glad to know one of his classmate, hopeful that he might not have to be alone again for another year.


	4. The Gryffindor Dorm Room

Dean and his fellow Gryffindors followed the bright red head Gryffindor prefect Percy Weasley up the moving staircases. Dean had trouble keeping up. His eyes drawn to the staircases as they moved. They were moving, literally moving. He wondered how they worked, were they time based or was it random? How was he expected to know how to get to classes when the staircases moved?

Looking up, Dean saw that his group was several paces ahead. Dean rushed to keep up barely making it on to the right staircase before it started to turn. However, his focus was once again drawn from the prefect he was supposed to be following, to the thousands of moving Portraits and tapestries surrounding ever wall he could see. The portraits seemed to not only move but speak and carry on conversations with a disgruntled and aggravated Percy Weasley. 

Finally they stopped walking directly in front of a portrait of a fat lady in a frilly pink dress holding a crystal champagne glass. 

"Password" she said in a voice that sounded likely she was trying to sing but it came at sounding closer to screeching. 

"Caput Draconis" replied Percy

The portrait swung forward revealing a circular hole in the wall that, reminded Dean of a hobbit hole. The Gryffindor students began to file through the hole in the wall to the room on the other side. Dean watched as Seamus Finnigan tried to climb through the portrait hole, being unable to reach the step he tripped. Dean standing just behind the boy offered him his hand helping the boy through the entryway before following himself. 

Dean thought that the common room was huge yet still warm and homey everything was decorated in bright red and glittering gold. There was several small couches and chairs, scattered with students who seemed to be from a variety of years, in front of a wooden fireplace. 

Percy directed the girls to their dormitory before, directing the boys to theirs. 

Dean followed the group of boys in his year, it was comprised of a boy named Neville who every few minutes seem to frantically start screeching about his frog Trevor he seemed to mysteriously lose again, a loud red head named Ron who felt the need to comment about everything, Seamus the small Irish boy he met on the train and Harry Potter the supposed saviour of the wizarding world. 

The dorm room was small but cozy it was comprised of five four poster beds with Gryffindor red curtains. Everyone's luggage had already been placed in front of their respective bed. Dean's bed was on the same wall to the door with Seamus on his right and Neville on his left.


	5. Classes and explosions

Dean was nervous about his first year of classes. He was nervous about falling behind, he was so new to the wizarding world. He didn't understand how it worked, its laws, what magic was capable of and what it wasn't or even what he was capable of. 

He knew that some people were born to wizards and therefore understood this world and had an unfair advantage over him, when it would come to learning magic. Dean, however, was determined not to let this happen, he was going to work hard. Dean was good at working hard for things in life. Despite being only eleven he had a good understanding of how unfair the world could really be. Sometimes, he felt like he had to work twice, maybe three and maybe even four times as hard as everyone around him just to end up in the same spot, to be seen as an equal. whether it be because he had so many siblings he helped take care of, or that his family didn't have as much money or because of his race or his muggle born status he didn't know or care really. However, he was determined to not be seen as anything less than anyone else. He was going to work hard to make sure that he could be just as good at magic as everyone else, even if they did have unfair advantages over him.

Seamus dreaded going to class. The school year had just barely started and he had already attracted copious amounts of unwanted attention. He didn't just want to be the guy that everyone knew simply for setting things on fire. He wasn't sure why it happened but anytime he concentrated to hard or got too angry or scared things around just seem to explode but, all this accomplished was making him angrier and more nervous than before. Let the vicious never ending cycle begin, he thought, as he sat down beside Dean in charms. 

"It's swish and flick" Professor Flitwick said, demonstrating how to levitate the gray and white striped owl feather in front of him. "Now I want you to try"

Seamus looked down at the feather in front of him. This isn't that hard just swish and flick. Seamus pointed his wand "Leviosa" Nothing happened "Leviosa" The feather once again did not move, Seamus stared and it accusingly almost like it was the feathers fault it wasn't working. He was growing increasingly annoyed. He was sick of not being able to accomplish anything through magic, everything just resulted in flames. "LEVIOSA, LEVIOSA, LEVIOSA" Seamus aggressively screamed at the feather. It promptly burst into flames covering Seamus's face in soot, causing his fair hair now gray with ash to stick up in spikes.

Dean let out a short carefree laugh, causing Seamus to turn towards him. What if Dean thought he was stupid? He'd never said anything about the explosions, but what if Dean found Seamus embarrassing?

Dean pulled a pack of tissues from his robes. Leaning forward he pulled one out and began to rub the soot off of Seamus's face. 

"Honestly, Sea can you not go one class without setting something on fire" Dean scrunched his eyebrows together in concentration trying to get the rest of the soot off his face. "You have to stay still" Dean wrapped his left hand around Seamus's neck.

"There," Dean said, releasing his hands from Seamus now soot free face. "You can keep these, you'll probably need them more than I will." Dean threw what was left of the pack of tissues onto Seamus's desk.

* * *

Seamus hated his classes, he didn't see why he needed them at all, nothing they studied seemed particularly interesting or useful either. Seamus was convinced that teachers had secret meetings, where they tried to find the most boring way to teach things. No matter how hard Seamus tried he couldn't seem to concentrate on class. There was always something else that was on his mind.

Seamus also thought that school was a waste of time that he could spend more productively. Time he could spend learning things that were actually useful, things that he would use in life, not how to turn animals into glasses. He could get to spend his time outside in the nice weather, instead of coped up inside of some old classroom.

None of this was truer than when it came to potions with professor Snape. Snape at least according to Seamus and probably the entirety of Hogwarts was an egotistical, elitist, unfair git. Seamus did not like Snape with the entirety of his being.

Seamus thought it was unjust that Snape gave him so many detentions. It really wasn't his fault he blew things up, he didn't know how it happened. 

Dean also disliked Snape for similar reasons. He unfairly judged people, he let his biases be known he was horrible to Harry and absolutely terrified Neville but above all, Dean didn't like that Snape didn't even try to teach them. He clearly was very skilled in potions however, he never once taught them or explained how to do anything or offer any useful critiques. He just left them with a book doing nothing but sneer at people all class long. 

So both Seamus and Dean found themselves on a beautiful nice Friday afternoon stuck in the cold dark dungeons with professor Snape proclaiming that both Seamus and Dean had to stay behind that evening to polish trophy's because Seamus once again blew up their potion. Dean didn't really mind that much as long as Seamus was there nothing could ever be that bad. 

Seamus however, felt guilty Dean was forced to attend detention with him when he'd done nothing wrong himself. He often wondered if Dean saw him as a menace. He was always dragged into detentions because of him, missing class because Seamus dragged him to the bathroom to clean his face, or the hospital wing after a particularly nasty explosion. Dean never said anything mean about the explosions Seamus seemed to cause everywhere he went. He was always happy to help Seamus but, Seamus wondered if he was just too nice to tell him when he was bothering him.


	6. Dean’s Art

Being the only one in the Gryffindor dorm room, Dean decided to draw in his sketchbook. He didn't like when people looked at his art, he felt that his art was something he did for himself, not for others enjoyment. His art, he felt was in a weird sort of way a part of him, a reflection of how he felt, of how he saw the world of what mattered most to him. And being the true artist he was, he judged himself too harshly. Comparing his art to people who could double or triple him in years of experience. He feared the harsh judgement he was certain he would receive, but if no one saw his art they couldn't say anything bad about. 

Dean picked up his pencils and began to draw whatever came to mind. 

Sighing in frustration, Dean stared scrutinisingly at his work. He was just starting to learn how to draw portraits, and therefore struggling to capture the likeness of people the way he wanted. He wasn't sure why but the small sketch of Seamus he had just started looked wrong, his nose was too long, the shadows of his face didn't fall in the right spots and most importantly it didn't reflect Seamus the way he wanted. No matter how many times Dean tried he could never seem to capture the true beauty of Seamus, the energy he cared. He supposed that was probably because what made Seamus beautiful wasn't his fair hair, or his freckles or even his blue-green eyes, it was that he was a living breathing person with a soul and a personality.

Seamus stared at the exploding snap game at the table below him, his eyes following all the grooves in the dark wooden table. The game had been on pause for the last several minutes as Harry and Ron had been arguing about something, Seamus hadn't bothered to pay attention. He had only managed to catch a word here, he thought it had something to do with Hermione, though he supposed he didn't really care about the argument, except that it was extremely boring. When Harry and Ron were no longer paying attention, Seamus stood up, not bothering to say anything and left in hopes of finding Dean. Seamus didn't see the point of even saying he was leaving, if the other two didn't even seem to notice he was there to begin with. 

"What do you think, Seamus?" Harry asked the empty spot he could have sworn the small Irish boy was just a few seconds ago. "When do you think he left?" Harry questioned Ron who simply shrugged in response. 

"Don't know mate, wanna play another round?"

"Sure," Harry shrugged, not thinking anything of the boy's mysterious disappearance. 

Seamus plopped next to Dean on his bed. "watcha doing?"

Dean pulled the sketchbook protectively towards his chest. "Nothing" He lied. 

"Come on, Dean I want to see" The sandy hair boy said, trying to pry the book away from Dean's chest.

"No," Dean said, wrapping his arms around the book pouting like a toddler. 

"Dean, come on I won't judge ya, it looked really good" Dean hesitantly passed the sketchbook to the boy next to him closing his eyes, not wanting to see the boys inevitable disappointment. 

Seamus started at the half finished sketch of a boy with messy hair and freckles.   
"Is this me?" Seamus said voicing his thoughts aloud. 

Dean nodded. 

"It's amazing," Seamus said, tracing his fingers over the faint lines of the sketch. 

Seamus, who could barely draw a stick figure, was amazed by Dean's ability. He didn't understand how he knew where to put which lines or where the shadows should fall.

Dean turned to Seamus in surprise, used to people making fun of his art.

"You really think so," Dean said, trying to hide how much his opinion meant to him. 

"Yes, Dean" The boy practically screamed despite them laying close enough their arms touched every time they moved.   
"It's bloody brilliant" 

Dean smiled. He determined from this day forward there was no reason to hide his art, not if he had support from the only person's opinion that truly mattered to him.


	7. The never ended argument Quidditch vs Football

Neville watched as Seamus and Dean were having yet another argument about whether quidditch or football was the better sport. Neville rolled his eyes and attempted to tune them out.

"I'm not saying that quidditch is not a good sport, I'm just saying that football is better," Dean stated. 

"How would you know you've never played quidditch?"

"Well you've never played football, besides the rules don't even make sense why would the snitch end the game and why can only one person look for it?"

Harry threw his pillow over his head screaming into it in exasperation. They had the same argument every few days and they were becoming more common with the first quidditch match taking place the next day. Harry didn't see the points of these arguments, they never seemed to make any new comments. 

Ron threw his pillow at Dean's face.  
"Oi shut up would you two, quidditch is obviously the best sport."

Seamus turned to Dean with his arms crossed against his chest and a smirk on his lips. Dean picked up Ron's pillow throwing it back at him. 

* * *

That afternoon was the first quidditch game of the season. It was all the Boys in the Gryffindor dorm room seemed to talk about lately. 

Seamus and Dean sat next to each other in the over crowded Gryffindor section of the stands. The game was about to start and Seamus was excited to get to see his first quidditch game at Hogwarts especially, because Harry was playing despite only being a first year. The only first year seeker in a hundred years. Seamus wanted to know if Harry lived up to his new found reputation. 

Dean was excited to see his first ever game of quidditch. For as much as Dean teased Seamus for liking quidditch he was secretly intrigued by the sport, wanting to know more about how the game worked. He also wanted to be as supportive for his friend Harry as he could be. 

The whistle was blown, wringing out through the stadium as the game began. The balls were released from their chest and thrown into the air. Dean watched in fascination as the students flew around the stadium with several different balls, of varying sizes, were thrown around. Despite Seamus explaining all the rules of quidditch to him, he still found it hard to follow what was happening. 

Every time Gryffindor scored a point Seamus would stand up and scream into his hands as loud as possible. Dean was certain that Seamus was the loudest sound in the stadium including the collection of voices of the other students and Lee Jordan's commentary that included a microphone. He was pretty sure his ears were ringing. However, Dean thought he was just as loud when Slytherin won a point. Seamus would aggressively boo at the players and start screaming at Mme Hooch that something the Slytherin team did was a fool. Dean was certain that the things Seamus was screaming about weren't even real rules, since Madame Hooch ignored him. Dean rolled his eyes at his friend's silly antics, despite the massive grin on his face. 

Seamus was standing screaming aggressively at the crowd, Slytherin had just scored another point, when Dean noticed that Harry seemed to be struggling to hold onto his broom, he was barely holding on to it as it whizzed around flipping him upside down. Dean checked the stands for Ron and Hermione figuring they might know what was going on or at least some way to help. However, they were nowhere to be found. 

"Sea" Dean said, trying and probably falling to hide the panic in his voice. 

"What Slytherin totally deserves it, their beater is a real asshole." Seamus shouted, still facing the coach.

"Sea" Dean said, pulling on the edge of his robes.

"What? Come on what I said wasn't that bad." 

"Seamus," Dean shouted, pulling harder on the boy's robes, "not that, look!" Dean pointed to where Harry was now struggling to hold onto the broom with one hand as it swerved around violently. 

Both boys stared in horror as Harry flipped rolling in circles as he struggled to gain control of his broom. 

"What could cause a broom to do that?" Dean asked struggling to understand how Harry, the supposedly best seeker in a hundred years of Hogwarts history could be struggling with something so simple. 

"I don't know, the only thing I can think of is that somebody hexed his broom"

"Hexed it, who could do that?"

"I dont know" 

Dean turned around looking again for Hermione, she might know what's going and how to help. However, Dean couldn't see her or Ron, they seem to have disappeared. Concern flooded through Dean. Where could they have gone? What could they be doing? Is Harry okay? 

Seamus grabbed Dean's shoulder forcing him to look forward as Harry, now completely on top of his broom, started falling landing on all fours in the grass. Dean watched in horror as his friend's body started convulsing, it looked like he was choking.

Something that seems to glitter gold in the sunlight fell from Harry's mouth landing in his hand. It took Dean a couple seconds to realise it was the snitch. Which meant that they had won the game, Gryffindor had beat Slytherin. Dean watched the Gryffindor team run over to Harry, making sure he was okay before they clobbered him in hugs. Once Dean knew that Harry was safe he let the excitement of the win take over him. 

Turning towards each other both boys hugged jumping up and down.

"We won. Gryffindor won," Dean shouted, before pulling back.


	8. Dean and Another Baby Sister

Seamus stared at the gold chalice in front of him. "Turn this water into rum" he repeated for the tenth time that morning. Growing increasingly frustrated, yet surprisingly still determined he picked up his wand repeating the incantation. When nothing happened, Seamus leaned over the glass to examine if the contains had changed. However when he leaned over the glass he was instead meet with an explosion, causing soot to fly directly into his face and his hair to stick up in spikes. Dean chuckled lightly behind Seamus. The small Irish boy simply glared at his friend, prepared to tell him off, if he stared laughing again. He was interpreted however by the daily post owls flying overhead. 

A practically small brown and white brown owl landed in front of Dean sticking out his foot holding a letter expectantly. Dean untied the letter, absentmindedly stroking his owls feathers as it stole some bacon off his plate. 

Scrutinisingly, Dean examined the letter before him. It was from his mother, he recognised the hand writing. Could this be about what he thought it was? Cautiously, not wanting to harm the letter, not if it was about what he thought it was Dean opened the letter. 

He quickly scanned over the words in the letter. His mom had finally had the baby. Dean was excited, he had another sister, another baby sister. Reaching into the envelope Dean found a picture of the baby, she was small even for a new born baby maybe six, seven pounds with a surprisingly large amount of hair and lots of wrinkles. 

"Whatcha get, is it what I think it is?" Seamus asked leaning over Dean's trying to get a glimpse at what Dean was looking at. Dean had almost forgotten Seamus was there, too busy thinking of all the exciting new things that came with having another sister. 

Realising he hadn't answered his question he nodded. "Yeah, my mom had the baby. I have another sister" 

Seamus smiled happy, to get to see how excited Dean was. 

"Congratulations" When Seamus was younger he wanted siblings. He was often very lonely and bored as a child, there were never many people, certainly not people around his age in rural Ireland. However as he grew up, he heard stories about how having siblings wasn't fun. According to his neighbours, siblings didn't play with you instead they teased you and made fun of you and hit you. They didn't give you candy, instead they stole from you. So, since Seamus realised maybe he didn't want siblings if all they were was horrible to you. However, when Seamus heard how Dean talked about his siblings, about how much he obviously loved them he realised that siblings weren't always a bad thing. That maybe having siblings wouldn't be so bad. 

Dean turned the picture around so Seamus could have look. Seamus looked at the muggle photograph, Seamus knew they didn't move as Dean had described how they worked, of the small new born and smiled. 

"She's cute"

"Isn't she" Dean said fondly taking the photograph gingerly fro Seamus's hand and carefully placing it back into the envelope. 

Suddenly, Dean stood up. 

"What, do we have to leave, I haven't finished eating yet, though" 

"I have to write a letter back, before classes start, you don't have to come" 

"No, I'll come" Seamus stood up following Dean before taking a step back to grab a couple pieces of bacon.


	9. House Cup

"Seamus does it really matter that Slytherin is going to win the house cup?" Dean asked sick of his friends moping. Seamus had been quieter than usual all day, not having spoken except for the occasional mumbled comment about stupid Slytherin and the house cup. Dean would simply roll his eyes use to his friends childish obsessive behaviour especially when it concerned Slytherin or according to Seamus "their mortal enemies".

"Yes" Seamus shouted attracting the attention of some of the other Gryffindors in the common room. "It's not that Gryffindor has to win, although they should, it's just... we cant lose to them, to the stupid ignorant Slytherins."

"Seamus", Dean whined pulling on the other boy's arm, "I don't care if your mad that Slytherins winning the stupid house cup, we still have to go to the feast."

"But I don't want to" Seamus pouted like a toddler trying to yank his hand back. Dean huffed in annoyance. 

"Sea, please"

"No", Seamus crossed his arm defiantly over his chest. "There just going to act all high and mighty, oh we won were clearly the greatest" one of Seamus arms waved violently around him mocking the Slytherins. 

"Seamus, if you don't go you wont be able to eat anything til breakfast tomorrow." Dean threatened knowing the other boy's attachment to food. Seamus merely grunted indignantly in reply. Earning yet another eye roll from Dean, despite the lazy grin that never left his face. 

"Fine" Seamus took the hand the other boy offered letting him help him up from the couch.

Seamus glared at the green and silver banners adorned with serpents that fell from the ceiling in the great hall, his eyes never leaving them even as he sat down next to Dean and across from Neville.

Venimously, Seamus scooped up some of the mashed potatoes onto his plate, seething when the potatos splattered causing some to hit him in the face. The potatoes still left on his plate, promptly burst into flames matching the anger that risen in his cheeks. The flames stopped as abruptly as they started. This however, didn't stop Dean from letting out a short burst of laughter. 

Seamus simply glared at Dean, causing him to laugh even harder. 

"Shut up" Seamus said without any real malice, nudging Dean with his shoulder.

Seamus groaned and mumbled mocking what Dumbledore had said as he recounted the number of points for each house and congratulating the Slytherins. 

"However, there are some last minute points to award, first to Mr. Ron Weasley for playing the most advance game of chess Hogwarts has seen in many years, fifty points" 

Seamus's face lit up at the prospect of winning the house cup but more importantly crushing the Slytherins. 

"To Miss Hermione Granger for the use of cool magic in the face of fire, I award Gryffindor fifty points" 

"To Mr. Harry Potter for pure nerve and outstanding courage, I award Gryffindor sixty points"

"It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to our enemies, but just as much to stand up to our friends. Therefore I award ten points to Mr. Neville Longbottom." 

Seamus practically screamed when he realised that meant that Gryffindor had won the house cup. Turning to Neville he gave him a congratulatory pat on the back hard enough Neville almost chocked. 

"I believe some change in decoration would be appropriate" Dumbledore clapped his hands changing the green and silver banners floating in the great hall to change to Gryffindor red and gold.


	10. Goodbye I Guess?

Dean boarded the Hogwarts express torn between his excitement of getting to see his family again. Who he missed a lot, a hell of a lot. And having to leave Hogwarts even if it was use for the summer holidays. 

He was excited to get to use stupid muggle technology again to catch up on his favourite shows, and the new albums from his favourite bands. He was excited about getting to do all the little things he couldn't do at Hogwarts like playing soccer with his sisters, drawing portraits of his family and the stupid prank wars him and his siblings had. Not to mention the thought of finally getting to met his newest baby sister. 

Yet, there was a part of him that was sad to go. To leave Hogwarts, which had quickly became his second home. He knew in a few short weeks he would be back on the train to start his second year but, he found he wasn't ready to say goodbye. 

He would miss getting to use magic. He would miss his fellow Gryffindors, he would miss the crazy shenanigans that he got into, but above all he would miss Seamus, his best friend. He couldn't stand the thought of having to say goodbye to the other boy.

He had grown used to waking up everyday in the bed next to him, to sitting next to him in every class, to hanging out with him for as long as both boys could stand to be awake. He was used too getting to spending practically all day every day with him. 

He didn't know what he would do without Seamus there. He had only know the boy for the better part of a year and yet he could somehow barely remember what the world was like before he knew him. He knew he was being dramatic he would get to see him soon, they had promised to send letters whenever they could but it wouldn't be the same he would still miss Seamus Finnigan his first and only real best friend. 

Seamus sat next to him and across from Lavender and Pavarti. Dean would miss this, spending time with his friends laughing, telling stories or just talking about nothing. 

Several hours later the Hogwarts express rolled to a stop at Platform nine and three quarters. 

Lavender turned at the compartment door already having collected her luggage.   
"Bye see you next year I guess" she left the compartment with Pavarti following close behind. 

Dean swiftly collected his luggage. Hearing a weird grunt behind him, he turned around to see the short Irish boy standing on his tippy toes leaning over the metal racks hanging over the seats trying to grab his luggage but only resulting in pushing the suitcase further back on the shelf. Dean couldn't help the small chuckle that escaped his lips. 

"Would you like some help with that?" Seamus only glared in response. 

"No I've almost got it" Seamus said directing his harsh gaze over his shoulder and added as if to prove a point. "I don't need anyone's help"

Dean shakes his head despite the massive grin on his face. Seamus he had learned rather quickly could be very stubborn refusing to admit when he needed help, determined to find some way to accomplish it on his own. Especially when it had to do with his height. 

Dean reached around Seamus, who was now jumping trying to grab the handle on his suitcase, and grabbed the bag placing it on the floor by Seamus's feet. 

"Hey! I totally could've gotten that down if you'd just given me a minute" Seamus stubbornly crossed his arms glaring at Dean not liking to admit that he was a couple inches shorter than most the boys his age. 

"Sure you could" Dean said patronisingly, while rolling his suitcase behind him into the trains hallway. 

Seamus struggled rushing to follow Dean "I could've"

Dean searched the platform before he found his mom smiling waving at him, Dean returned her smile While waving back. Turning to the boy next to him Dean couldn't stop the rush of emotions he had at the prospect of having to say goodbye. He didn't want to, he wanted to stay as close as he possibly could to Seamus, as close as the other boy would let him. 

"I have to leave, so I guess this is goodbye... till next year" 

"Till next year" Seamus echoed wrapping his arms tight enough to leave bruises around the other boys middle. Dean hug back just as fiercely, not wanting to let go. 

"Ill miss you" Dean whispered against Seamus hair before pulling back far too soon for either boys liking. 

"Ill miss you too" 

"Goodbye I guess for real this time" Dean says while retreating backwards. 

Once Dean was halfway to his mom he heard a familiar voice shout behind him "Hey Dean, don't forget to send letters"

"I won't"

"Dean" A familiar voice spoke in front of him. 

"Hey mom" Dean said while staring up at the women in front of him. He missed her he really did. 

"Who was that boy he seemed sweet?"

"That was Seamus he's my friend, my best friend"

"while he's waving at you right now" His mom pointed behind him to Seamus jumping up and down so his short little arm, that was frantically waving could be seen over the crowd. He was standing next to a tall thin women, that must have been his mother, for they shared the same milky skin and sandy hair. 

Dean waved back. 

***

Seamus ran towards his mom throwing his arms around her. He missed his mom a lot and he was glad to see her again. Seamus mother laughed, a short sweet sound of pure joy. 

"Hi Seamus" 

"Hi mam I missed you"

"I missed you too, It's quiet without you at home" She replied while ruffling his hair. 

"Did you make any friends while you were at school?" She questioned hoping her son had a good time while he was at school.

Seamus turned pointing to Dean "That's Dean he's my friend"

"Ahh, Did you make any other friends?"

Seamus nodded "Yes just not like Dean, he's me best friend."


	11. Enemies of the Heir Beware

Dean and Seamus were wondering through the halls between classes, the soft yellow glow of the afternoon filtering through the delicate arches looking out to the courtyard. Seamus was enthusiastically waving his arms around while he recounted some exciting tale that Dean was only half paying attention to, too focused on the way Seamus's arm sometimes brushed his, the way he lifted his vowels, the freckles that scattered across his face that Dean could only see when his face was close to Seamus's.

Dean stopped abruptly.  
"what?" Seamus turned confused at why they had suddenly stopped in the middle of the corridor. 

"I thought I heard something?" 

"Well I don't hear anything," Seamus took a small step forward.

"Wait." Dean yelled, grabbing Seamus's wrist. "Don't you hear that?"

This time Seamus did hear the noise, an echoed scream rung through the hall. It sounded nearby. 

Dean grabbed Seamus's wrist dragging him forward. Together they followed the sound, rounding the corner. Stopping when they were met with a rapidly growing crowd of students blocking the hallway, Dean dropped his hold on Seamus's wrist. 

Despite his height, Dean wasn't able to make out anything over the heads of the gathering students. When he finally caught a glance at what everyone was looking at, Mrs.Noris strung by her tail to a lamp and an inscription in a deep red that Dean thought must blood on the adjacent wall "The chamber of Secrets has been opened enemies of the heir beware." He felt a wave of terror run through him. He didn't know what the words meant, but he knew that they couldn't be good, that it was a threat of some kind. why? Who put it there? What did the phrase even mean, Dean didn't know but he was determined to find out. 

Dumbledore pushed through the rapidly growing mass of second year sturdents, followed by professor McGonagall and professor Snape.

Intent on finding out what happened Dean, watched the group of teachers whispering to themselves, trying to make out what they were saying. But he could only catch a few words, nothing to make sense out of. 

McGonagall turned addressing the surrounding students.  
"All the rest of today's lessons have been Canceled, you must return to your dormitories at once. I don't want to see a single one of you anywhere else in the castle." Her tone was short and powerful, not to to be questioned. 

Turning back the way they came Dean began walking towards the Gryffindor common room, making sure that Seamus was following too.  
* * *

Dean was sat on one of the couches, facing the fire. He was trying to capture the movement of flames in his sketchbook, but found he couldn't capture the aliveness, the spontaneity. Seamus was sat beside Dean writing an essay for potions. Though, he had only managed to write two and half sentences in the last fifteen minutes. 

The Gryffindor common room was quiet, eerily so. Despite the overwhelming number of students cramped in the tiny room there was no sound louder than the occasional whisper. It was like everyone had collectively decided not to mention what they'd seen, scared by what it could mean, what was to come.

Deciding his mind was to scattered to get any work done, Seamus rolled up his half finished scroll and put it gently on the small wooden coffee table in front of him. 

"Dean?" Seamus asked concern in his voice.

"Yeah" Dean replied not looking up from his sketchbook.

"What do you thinks going to happen now?" Knowing what Seamus was referring to Dean brings his eyes up to look at the boy before him. 

"I don't know, I don't even know what's happening now."

"Im scared" Seamus admitted staring at the red and gold rug below his feet. Dean gently placed his hand on Seamus shoulder, causing Seamus to turn his attention back to Dean. 

"It's okay, I'm scared too."


	12. The heir of Slytherin

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warning: There is a brief mention of past racism towards Dean but it is only mentioned briefly without much detail.

Dean once again found himself stuck silently between the conflict of other people. There was Seamus who held on too tightly to everything his mother believed and was thus convinced that Harry Potter, the wizarding world's savoir had to be the heir of Slytherin. And there was Harry, a boy who was stuck having to live up to unreasonable standards, every action scrutinised by the people around him. Someone Dean was certain could not possibly be the heir of Slytherin. 

Conflicted by the guilt of doing nothing to defend his friend Harry, abandoning him when he clearly needed people who believed in who he was and betraying Seamus's trust. Dean didn't know what he should do. 

He didn't know what he would do with himself if he hurt Seamus. 

But Dean didn't want Harry to be falsely accused for things he didn't do, for beliefs he didn't have. He saw the way other students looked at him, avoided him and whispered words behind and even sometimes to Harry's face. Dean refused to choose sides, instead finding solstice in the silence. He let Seamus make remarks and snide comments both to and about Harry, only mumbling and pretending not to hear when Harry asked his opinion too afraid of losing his best friend. 

Until one day, when Dean couldn't take it anymore. Seamus had been telling the other Gryffindor's in the common room the latest made up stories about Harry, that were printed in the daily prophet or picked up from the whispered words of students. Dean didn't think that Harry deserved to be treated this way, his life seemed hard enough with everyone around him expecting perfection, expecting him to do unbelievable things for a boy his age without taking his feelings or the carefree childhood he should be living instead into account. 

Dean didn't think that Harry Potter was a bad person, that he was capable of committing the truly horrifying actions of the true heir of Slytherin. Dean knew what bad people were like, how prejudice people behaved. He knew from the way people followed him and his mom around stores because they looked "Suspicious", or the way innocent people were killed and attacked by police officers because of their personal prejudices. He knew from the stories of his mom about how men treated her. He knew how prejudice people behaved, how they acted and he knew without a doubt that Harry couldn't be one of them. Even if Harry was an oblivious dumbass he didn't seem to treat anyone differently, not Hermione for being muggle born or Ron with his handy down clothes.

Dean believed that Harry was a good person, someone who supported the rights of people who were missing theirs, someone who protected the people he cared about.

The horrors of the world were something Dean had become far too aware of at an incredibly young age. His mom hadn't wanted to hide the unjust nature of the real world from, knowing that he would be scrutinised by society for unfair reasons, for things that were out of control and she wanted him to know that the way people would inevitably treat him was in no way his fault, that not everything in the world was fair or just. That not all people were good and treated people the way they should, because no matter what everyone is still a human being.

However his mother didn't want Dean to grow up bitter and cold and resentful of the world and its unjust and cruel nature. She wanted him to see that just because there are ugly things in our world doesn't mean there isn't beauty in it as well. So, she taught him that the world functioned through balance. That even if there were bad people in this world, people who discriminate unfairly there was someone there to defend that person's rights. For every person who greedily hoards money, there was someone donating theirs to charity. For everyone who hurt, manipulated and took advantage of people there was someone there to help pick them and try and put the pieces back together. Dean tried as hard as he could to be a good person, to try and balance all the evil that sometimes felt as if it consumed the world. He wanted to be a good person, to stand up for the people that couldn't do it themselves. 

Dean was determined to help his friend, because that's what Harry needed, a friend that would stand up for them, a friend that believed in him. 

"How do you know that for sure, Sea? Can you prove it, can you prove that Harry is the heir of Slytherin, that he did any of this?" Dean stood from his chair towering over Seamus, who was sitting on the floor in front of the fireplace. 

"It's all over the daily prophet, besides me mam says it's true." Seamus stood up, managing to look intimidating despite being a whole head shorter than Dean. 

"While the news lies and your mams too trusting, which she clearly passed on to you." Dean knew it was too far to make fun of Seamus's mum and their relationship. He was just so angry the words slipped out without him thinking about them in the first place. He knew he should stop, that he should apologise but he couldn't think past his anger, the frustration he'd let build over weeks wanting to keep the peace between his dorm mates. 

"Don't you think it's weird that Harry's missing all the time, that he's not where he's supposed to be that. That he's mysteriously out in the middle of the night. What, what do you think he's doing?"

"How can you say these things about Harry? You know him. Don't you trust him? He doesn't exactly seem like the type of person to do such horrible things. Besides if he's the so called heir of Slytherin wouldn't he be in Slytherin?"

"I don't know? Why don't you ask him? Huh...", Seamus pointed his finger accusingly at Dean, "why don't you ask him why he can talk to snakes? Why don't you ask him where's going in the middle of the night? What he's doing?"

Seamus, Dean realised made some fair points. He often found Harry's and sometimes even Ron's beds empty in the middle of the night, and he was always getting caught in places he shouldn't be near when horrible things seemed to happen. However Dean determined that none of these things mattered to him, he had complete trust in Harry. That he couldn't be the heir of slytherin. There had to be some reasonable explanation behind his suspicious behaviour. Some perfectly rational, reasonable explanation about how he got himself into these situations. There had to be. 

"I don't have to because I trust him. I'm sure there's some sort of perfectly reasonable explanation. Besides, can't you just trust him because he's your friend" 

"No", Seamus's voice was growing quieter but the volume he lost was made up with spite and venom, "Because people are getting hurt Dean really hurt. Because what if Harry is the one causing this? What if there was a way to stop more people from getting hurt?" What if you get hurt Dean, Seamus thought. "But we didn't do anything because we were to blind to see it?"

Dean didn't know what to say. He didn't want people to get hurt but he still couldn't believe that Harry was the cause behind it. 

Dean took a step towards Seamus before, taking a shaky breath in trying to calm his nerves. 

"What if you're the one causing people harm? Maybe you're just taking the easy way out? maybe you're just blaming people near you because you're scared?" Dean emphasized each question by gabbing Seamus in the chest.

"Scared?" Seamus repeated trying to hide the tremor in his voice. "Scared of what?" Scared that you'll end up being the next person to end up petrified in the hospital wing. Scared of losing you. Scared that this all becoming so real so fast.

"Scared that you'll get hurt, probably" For some reason this hurt Seamus the most of all the things Dean said, or yelled. Dean thought he was selfish, that he only did things for himself. Couldn't Dean tell that everything he was doing was for him. That he was concerned that Dean would end up being the next muggleborn to end up lying petrified in the hospital wing. 

Seamus clenched his fist, hard enough he could feel his nails digging into his palm but he didn't seem to care, or maybe he didn't even notice. Not wanting to do or say something he'd regret he turned running as fast as he could out the portrait hole.


	13. Sulking and self-reflection

Seamus let the anger consume him, take over his words, his thoughts, his actions even if it hurt the people around him he was trying to protect because anything, even anger was better than the fear. 

He was sick of it sick of being scared. He had no idea who could end up hurt next. what if it was Dean? Seamus couldn't live with himself if Dean got hurt, if he ended up stuck in one of the hospital beds petrified.

The constant stream of worry that not only haunted him when he was awake but sipped into his dreams was making Seamus go crazy. He couldn't stop thinking about all the things that could go wrong, all the ways Dean could get hurt, all the ways Dean could die. He just wanted it to end, he didn't want to think about it any longer, he didn't want to think about how he was certain his words had hurt Dean and Harry. 

He was sick of the fear, so he got angry instead. 

It wasn't till Seamus heard the slamming of the portrait hole behind that he realised he didn't have anywhere to go. He couldn't go back inside not if he had to see the pained look on Dean's face again. He had nowhere to go, nothing to do and no one worth talking to, as he decided he wasn't going to speak to Dean at the moment. Realising it didn't really matter where he went, Seamus started wondering careful to stay away from the busy, traffic frequent hallways to avoid the chance of running into Dean.

Eventually, he found himself outside the library and since he had nowhere else to go, nothing else to do he decided to enter. He sat on the floor of the furthest corner of the library, a place where only Hermione would visit hoping to be alone, to have time to figure out his thoughts. 

Seamus found however, that the silence didn't help whatsoever. He still had no idea what he should do. Dean and him never fought, never. Sure, they squabbled over petty little things like quidditch vs football, or what the proper pronunciation of some spell or other was but, they had never had a real fight before. 

Seamus didn't know what to do. Should he ignore what just happened, or was he supposed to apologise? 

He felt horrible for snapping at Dean, for accusing Harry, someone who was supposed to be his friend. But he was still mad at Dean. He'd said some hurtful things that had really gotten to Seamus even though he tried not to let them. They would have flown right over his head if they were said by anybody else but they weren't they were said by his very own best friend.

Seamus had no idea how long he spent on the floor of the library head in his hands, the only measure of time he had was the occasional sound of pages turning, books thumping on tables and people whispering only to be shushed by the librarian. 

There was a light tap on his shoulder startling Seamus out of his thoughts causing him to throw his head backwards hitting it with a loud thud into the shelf behind him. 

"Ow" Seamus stated accusingly at the girl in front of him as he rubbed the back of his head. 

"Sorry" the blonde shrugged simply, plopping down onto the floor next to him. 

"What are you doing here Lavender?" Seamus asked, left over anger still in his voice.

"Well I came to escape the stupid arguments happening in the girls dormitory when, I saw you here and thought I should see how you're doing."

Seamus let out a long exhale."I don't really want to talk to anyone right now so you can just leave. Okay?" Seamus glared at Lavender hoping she would get the message and leave him alone. Sadly, this only seemed to egg the girl on further. 

"Seamus what's wrong? You can talk to me, we're friends you know."

Seamus knew Lavender well enough to know that she would never leave him alone at least not until she got the answers she wanted. That girl was persistent.

"Dean and I well we sort of..." Seamus trailed off.

"What?" Lavender asked leaning forward in anticipation of what Seamus would say next. 

"We sort of got into this really big fight and now I don't know what I should do?"

"Wow," Lavender said, eyes huge, "was not expecting that. You guys never fight and I mean never."

"I know, I know that's why I don't know what to do. Nothing like this has ever happened before and I just I regret what I said to him but he insulted me and me mam's relationship." 

Lavender remained silent trying to think of what she could possibly say to comfort the small boy that was folded into a ball with his arms still clutching his legs to his chest, in front of her. 

"Well why don't you just apologise? If you regret what you said to him you should tell him that. You're best friends and you're in the same dorm room, you can't avoid each other forever. You're going to have to talk to one another eventually. Besides it'll be easier if you talk to him now."

She did have some really good points, but Seamus still wasn't sure. He was scared, scared that talking to Dean would just lead to another argument. Scared that he and Dean might be drifting apart.

"Are you sure that's what I should do? What if we just end up arguing again?" 

Lavender looked at the boy next to her. She felt bad for him, she knew what it was like to fight with your best friend. What it was like to drift away from the person closest to you, till they disappeared completely. 

"Well, I can't tell you what to do. It's your decision, but the longer you wait to talk to him the harder it will be, the further you'll drift apart." Lavender thought about her own friends and how she should really stop avoiding Pavarti. 

"Besides you know Dean. You know he didn't really mean what he said. He's probably looking all over for you."

Seamus did know Dean and he knew that Dean couldn't really mean what he said. He knew Dean well enough to know that he was probably over thinking every word he'd said. He felt guilty putting Dean through that. Seamus knew that it was hard for Dean to handle conflict, so if he stood up for Harry it probably meant a lot to him. 

He was right about one thing though, Seamus was scared. Scared that more people would get hurt, scared that Dean would be the next victim of the chamber of secrets, that he would be stuck frozen on some hospital bed.

He was looking for someone to blame, some out, something to be hopeful about. The Irish boy knew he shouldn't blame Harry but he just needed to have control over something in his life, when he seemed to be losing control over everything else. He needed to know what was happening. He didn't really believe that Harry was the heir of Slytherin.

Seamus decided that he would stop fighting with Harry if it meant that much to Dean. Their friendship was more important. Seamus also knew that Harry didn't deserve the way he was treating him.

"Okay." Seamus said, shooting to his feet. 

"Okay what?" Lavender asked, taking the hand Seamus offered her helping pull him up. 

"Okay, I'll apologise to him"

Lavender couldn't help the smile that blossomed on her face, happy to have helped someone when her own life was so messed up. She decided that maybe she should take some of her own advice and apologise to Pavarti. 

***

Dean stared at the spot Seamus was before he ran out of the common room. He didn't know how to move and even if he did he didn't know what he should do.

Was he supposed to chase Seamus? Was he supposed to apologise? He had said some hurtful things he didn't really mean, but he still didn't believe that Seamus should be treating Harry the way he had been lately. Should he just wait for Seamus to come back to the common room?

Dean didn't know what to do and he was freaking out. He had decided to wait till Seamus returned to the common room on his own hoping that he would have calmed down by then. 

It had only taken ten minutes till all of Dean's resolve broke. He couldn't take it anymore, he had to find Seamus, he had to apologise. 

However, Dean couldn't find the other boy anywhere he already checked the lake, the tree by the edge of the lake they often hang out under when it was nice out, the great hall, the library, and Hagrid's shack.

He'd asked every student he recognised when he passed them in the halls but no one had seen him. Dean was starting to get really worried. What if he screwed everything up? what if Seamus never wanted to see him again, to speak to him again? 

After another half hour of frantic searching Dean decided to head back up to the common room, Seamus might have returned there at some point anyway. 

When Dean climbed through the portrait hole into the common room, he found that Seamus was not there either. Sighing, Dean fell onto one of the red couches facing the fireplace. 

"Still can't find him?" Neville asked concerned for his friend.

"No, I've looked everywhere. I was hoping that he would make his way back here at some point." Dean hoped that he didn't sound as pathetic or as desperate as he felt.

"Well maybe he just needs to cool down." Neville put his hand comfortingly on Dean's shoulder. He wasn't good at advice. He didn't have many friends, at least no friends he was as close to as Dean and Seamus were to each other. He simply hoped that he could help Dean in some way.

"He can't avoid you forever, you're going to have to talk eventually it hasn't been that long even. You should probably just wait for him to calm down. You know how he gets when he's angry." Dean simply nodded in reply 

"You've got a good point. I think i'll just wait here till he comes back." 

"Well it's getting late I'm going to head up to the dorms." Neville patted his shoulder as he rose from his spot on the couch next to Dean. 

Upon reaching the door Neville turned and added almost an afterthought. "I hope that goes well."


End file.
